Out of the Inferno
by Azhriaz
Summary: Bass Island blows up, per Godzilla vs. Destroyah, but events take a different turn when the badly injured Godzilla takes his also injured adoptive son to Azusa Gojo, his human foster mother.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Godzilla® is the registered trademark of Toho Co., Ltd. All Godzilla images, characters, etc, are the property of Toho Co., Ltd. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 1

"Godzilla is entering Ise Bay! This is not a drill, Godzilla is approaching Yokkaichi City!" the loudspeakers blared, startling both the scientists and the military personnel who were sluggishly beginning their shift at G-Center on an early Saturday morning. Yokkaichi was about 200 miles southwest of G-Center's headquarters in Tokyo.

Nothing at all had been heard from Godzilla since he and Mogera jointly defeated Space Godzilla a year ago. Satellite reconnaissance showed that he and the Little One were still on Bass Island doing... nothing. No attacks on power stations or nuclear power plants occurred, just peace and quiet; and G-Force's employees had been rather bored until today.

Rumor had it that the respected Commander Takaki Aso didn't actually have a home, that he maintained quarters right at Headquarters, and that rumor was supported when the man appeared within moments of the alarm being sounded. As he entered the main control room, the monitors were just shifting to a view of Ise Bay and the distant but unmistakable silhouette of Godzilla, chest deep in the water and backlit by the rising sun.

Within moments, pilots had scrambled to meet him, their excited voices on the control room loudspeakers reporting their positions, the location of the target, and their formation. The chatter fell away abruptly as they came into visual range, a muffled gasp of shock from an unknown pilot all that broke the sudden silence. Commander Aso was about to scold the pilot for his surprise; after all, these were all experienced men, and the sight of Godzilla shouldn't be such a shock. His reprimand died in his throat as the cameras on the jets zoomed in on Godzilla and fed the images directly to the control room monitor.

The size and shape of the figure were about all that was recognizable. Godzilla was inky black, not from the contrast of the rising sun behind him, but because he was horribly burned. A close-up of his head revealed empty eye sockets, blackened teeth, and gums burnt away to reveal part of his lower jaw. The skin and flesh around his spines was also burned away, exposing scorched bone.

The monster's movements were slow and clumsy; he could only manage a step at a time, and he either ignored the buzzing of the jets around him or couldn't be bothered to do anything about them. Every few moments, he would stop to rest, head bent low in exhaustion. The brightening sky along with the decreasing depth of the water as he made his way towards the shore revealed something else as well: held in both arms and clasped tightly to his midsection was a sodden, indistinct lump.

The commander eventually found his voice and ordered, "Scan the immediate area, see if anything else is around!" If something had attacked Godzilla and did that much damage to him, he wanted to know about it. After a few moments, reports came back with negative results, so he could relax on that account. That left the threatened city to worry about, and he contacted the city officials to order an evacuation. Yokkaichi was a small city, and considering Godzilla's speed - or lack thereof - there was plenty of time to evacuate it.

Godzilla paused again, but not to rest this time. His head held high and slightly cocked, he seemed to listen intently. Whatever he heard, it resulted in a change in his course. Shifting a few degrees to the north, he took another slow, laborious step towards the shore, a path that would bypass all but the outskirts of Yokkaichi.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Commander Aso muttered, "How did he find his way there, and where is he going?" That the wounded monster had a destination in mind, he didn't doubt, but why he would come to Yokkaichi, he couldn't begin to imagine. Godzilla's burden took on form, one that the good commander had already begun to suspect: the Little One. What had happened to them? Ordering a quick reconnaissance flight to Bass Island, he waited impatiently for results, mobilizing ground forces out of Nagoya in the meantime. Godzilla didn't look like he could put up much of a fight, but it wasn't a good idea to underestimate the creature; he'd made that mistake before and didn't intend to repeat it.

Step by step, Godzilla approached the land, pausing frequently to rest and to listen. His pace slowed even more; with the loss of the water to provide some buoyancy to his massive form, he found gravity to be a new and unwelcome hindrance to his journey. As he slowly, painfully stepped onto the shore, he stumbled and nearly fell, only his heavy tail counterbalanced him enough to keep to his feet, though his tail, too, was charred and defleshed for a third its length.

* * *

Two miles inland from the shoreline of Yokkaichi, a confused Azusa Gojo and her co-workers were being hurried away from their laboratory by local officials. Godzilla was coming _here_? There was nothing like a nuclear power source within fifty miles. Sliding into her small but efficient car, she joined the heavy traffic on the roadway south but took a moment to call her friend Kazuma Aoki at G-Force and ask about what was going on. The answer horrified her, not so much on Godzilla's behalf, but on Baby's, the hatchling that she'd mothered for the brief time he had been in human hands. Pulling over to the side of the road, she tried to think things through, but thinking had very little to do with what she decided: Baby needed her help. Of all humanity, she was the only one who truly cared about him. 

It was complete insanity, but she turned around at the next off ramp, keeping her eyes on the horizon for the sight of Godzilla and his accompanying fighter escort. The monster was easily visible over the smaller buildings in the less congested area of Yokkaichi's outskirts, and the northbound lanes were clear, clear enough that she could drive towards him. Like others before her, she was stunned at Godzilla's appearance; it was hard to believe that he could even be alive like that. The road came to a dead end, a frustrating turn of events, and she had to turn around, but... maybe not. The monster was changing direction.

As terrified as she was, she got out of her car and stared upwards as he slowly turned and came towards her, _directly_ towards her. Another slow step, and another, and she was too paralyzed by shock and fear to even try to save herself. He seemed to be looking at her with those sightless eyes as he came to a stop less than fifty feet away. After a moment of somehow staring down at her, he finally bent over with a groan of pain and laid his burden down in front of her.

Yes, Baby: scorched, unconscious, and distinctly larger now, but still visibly breathing. Despite the presence of the monster, she rushed to Baby, sobbing in distress at his condition. He was not in as bad shape as his adoptive father, but seriously burned nonetheless. Almost unwillingly, she looked up, sensing that Godzilla was still staring at her, and he was. She could feel the weight of that eyeless stare and instinctively promised, "I'll look after him, I promise." That seemed to satisfy him, and he took an unsteady step back, but his strength left him then, and he limply fell over with a thunderous, ground-shaking crash.

* * *

"She _what_?!" Commander Aso demanded. 

Azusa's deviation from the planned evacuation hadn't gone unnoticed, plus Kazuma had his own suspicions about what she was up to. While he wasn't exactly held in high regard by some of G-Force's stricter commanders, they did accord him some respect due to his prior valor in the field against Godzilla, and he was using every bit of that regard to help Azusa.

"Yes, sir, I believe that she's gone to meet Godzilla because of... well, because of the baby. Is there an aerial transport available..." His voice trailed off as they watched the last act of the drama play out with Godzilla's sudden collapse.

With a lot of the urgency now gone from the situation, G-Force commandeered a nearby four-story building as their field headquarters. An excited Dr. Hideo Tomioka, director of Kyoto University's respected Biology department, called to offer his services to head a scientific team, to both medically treat Baby and examine the fallen Godzilla before he died or was killed. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and the doctor didn't want to lose it.

Reports came in from various agencies and even foreign countries whose satellites had observed the disaster on Bass Island. Once a pleasant tropical island, it was now an underwater nuclear wasteland, devastated by the equivalent of a multitude of nuclear bomb detonations. The radiation made it difficult to tell, but the presence of a new volcano indicated a freak accident. Huge uranium deposits buried deep beneath the island had reacted with a volcanic eruption to create a deadly radioactive inferno.

Though uneasy about not taking this opportunity to finish Godzilla, Commander Aso decided to risk letting him live for now. Godzilla didn't seem to be recovering and though he would hate to admit it, he felt some sympathy for the beast. The monster had walked hundreds of miles in terrible pain to bring his son to the only other being who actually cared about him. How Godzilla had even found his way to Japan, let alone how he located Azusa in that condition, was a hot topic of conjecture around HQ.

After a few days, the commander paid a visit to the ground floor and basement levels, both designated as the domain of the scientists. The underground basement had been enlarged to extend far beyond the perimeter of the building itself and was being used as a makeshift infirmary for Baby, who was recovering well from his scorching. He was suffering from severe dehydration, first-degree burns over 50 of his body, and second-degree burns over 20, probably because he had been shielded from worse by his father's body. Interestingly enough, he didn't seem to have Godzilla's regenerative ability, but that could change; because of the exposure to so much energy, he was mutating into something more closely resembling his adoptive parent. Though heavily sedated both to keep him from hurting himself and to protect Azusa from being accidentally crushed, the youngster wailed constantly from the pain of his burns, the stress on his mutating body, and the absence of his father, only taking comfort from Azusa. The harried young woman couldn't leave him for a moment, even to rest; she had a cot set up in Baby's cramped enclosure.

The ground floor housed the laboratories and its horde of specialists, from microbiologists to physicists to neurologists and plenty of disciplines in between. Dr. Tomioka was a good choice as director; a generalist in the biological sciences, he knew how to manage a wide array of temperamental specialists. Commander Aso stepped into the doctor's office to find him poring over several charts. Though the offices and labs were fitted with computers, sometimes old-fashioned hard copy made better sense. "Good afternoon, Dr. Tomioka. Have you completed your assessment of Godzilla yet?"

The doctor looked up from his perusal of the charts and gave the G-Force officer a respectful nod in greeting. Despite the excitement of the scientific knowledge being accumulated, the man and his staff were becoming increasingly grim. "There's still much to learn about Godzilla, Commander, but I do have preliminary reports in several areas." He sighed and arranged the charts into a neat stack. "Won't you please step outside with me? It's easier to describe when I have the example in front of me."

The massive, blackened form of the monster, even fallen, dwarfed the headquarters building. Gleaming against the darkness of his charred hide were hundreds of strands of wiring interspaced with a large number of precision instruments, the majority of which were concentrated on Godzilla's head and chest. The only signs of life were the slow rising and falling of his chest and the sound of labored, irregular breathing. Several technicians were gathered by his chest, not for any scientific purpose but just to touch the legend. To touch _Godzilla_. They could only stay for a short time to avoid too much exposure to his radioactivity, but there were always more to take their places.

Once outside, Doctor Tomioka's voice took on a lecturing tone as he took the silent commander on the long walk around the monster's head to reach his back. "It's obvious that he had his back turned when the blast hit. The only skin left is around his midsection and the insides of his arms and hands, where he was holding the Baby." Pausing by a charred ridge of flesh, he easily pulled it away to reveal a thin layer of bloody muscle tissue beneath it. "The blast burned away his skin and much of the flesh as well; we believe that he lost a third of his body mass in the blast, reduced to ash. The thinner areas were the worst: the back, feet, tail, and the back of the skull. Here, look at this..." Pausing by one of the smaller spines, he brushed away a thick layer of soot to reveal a distinct glow. Everyone in G-Force knew that glow, and an alarmed Commander Aso took a quick step back. "No, no need to worry; he's not generating any nuclear blasts. It's a reaction to something else, and I'll get to that when we get back to the lab."

His expression taking on a more somber aspect, the doctor retraced his steps. As he came around to the front again, he paused by the head and sighed. "We expect that he made the mistake of looking towards the blast over his shoulder, and that's what happened to his face." The face was a horror to look upon, even worse at such close range. Empty eye sockets gaped; even the eyelids were gone. Huge fangs, most longer than a human being was tall, were charred a sooty black, the white of bone visible where they fitted into his lower jaw. Despite appearances, the irregular breathing continued, a waft of hot air proving that Godzilla still lived. Continuing on to join the personnel still clustered next to the creature's lower chest, Doctor Tomioka gently laid a respectful hand on the monster's dark gray scales and then beckoned the taciturn commander back to his office.

"Please be seated," he invited absently as he bent over his monitor, typing in commands to display readings from various instruments. After catching up with the current status, he looked up at the patiently-waiting commander. "As for his inner workings, the neurological readings show that Godzilla's brain is much larger than we expected and a great deal more complex. What's most interesting is that his frontal lobe is also unexpectedly large. As you may know, the frontal lobe in humans is associated with higher brain functions such as creativity, innovation, problem solving, and symbolism, so it's surprising to find this in Godzilla." He hesitated on the verge of saying something further but caught himself back. "It is hard to be certain about any of this; he's not remotely human, and his brain is overloaded with neural impulses from, well, the pain." The doctor fell silent, obviously disturbed by something in his findings.

With a long, drawn-out sigh, he typed in some additional commands and swiveled the monitor around so that the commander could see an infrared image of Godzilla's body. "Here," he began, "is a strange and ominous mystery. This is a reading on his body temperature." Tapping a bright white spot on the image, centered in the monster's upper chest, he continued, "While we don't know what is normal for him, _that_ is anything but normal: nearly 500°C at that one almost microscopic point within his heart. We theorize that it's something to do with his radioactive breath, and that it is also the cause of the current glow in his spines: they are known to be reactive to the presence of energy." Another display was called up on the monitor, this one more familiar: an EKG. "His heart is badly damaged from the internal burning, but it still beats. He's a fighter."

The commander interjected sourly, "Oh, he's that all right."

A thin smile lightened the doctor's tired face. "Yes." Returning to his computer, he tapped in some other commands and then frowned. "This point of burning worries me. The temperature is slowly increasing, and we don't know why."

"What is the prognosis, Doctor?" Commander Aso asked bluntly.

Doctor Tomioka sighed again and answered just as bluntly, "He's dying, slowly, not from his external injuries but from the continuous burning of his heart. There is no evidence of any regeneration at all; we believe that it may have been overloaded by the sheer amount of damage. He has perhaps three days left before his heart will fail." Falling silent now, the doctor waited, indecision causing him to fidget restlessly.

Takaki Aso had been a career military officer his entire adult life, and officers had to learn to make hard decisions that could mean life or death for many. He learned those lessons, made those hard decisions with unwavering certainty in himself and his cause. Godzilla was the enemy. Hundreds had died in his raids for energy and thousands in his occasional rampages for no detectable reason at all. There had been a time or two when he thought he had him, but Godzilla somehow managed to turn an almost certain victory into a stunning defeat. Still, the creature should have died in battle, not like this. He looked away from the doctor, out the large office window. Whoever originally possessed this office was apparently an executive and deserving of accommodations that were both roomy and luxurious. In plain view outside was the blackened form of Godzilla. Without turning around, he queried, "What is it you want to ask of me, Dr. Tomioka?"

Starting in surprise, the doctor dropped his gaze guiltily, even though Aso wasn't even looking at him. "I... I request permission to treat Godzilla, Commander." Well aware of the outrageousness of that request, he continued quickly, "That point of heat, we have no idea of what will happen with it if Godzilla dies. It may die with him, or it may continue to grow out of control, or it may even detonate. He was exposed to a tremendous amount of energy; do we want that to be emitted when he dies?" He scolded himself silently for his outburst. One would think that he was one of those fictional mad scientists who would unleash forces not meant to be disturbed in their relentless quest for ultimate knowledge.

Somehow, the commander wasn't surprised at all by the request, maybe because he'd already noticed that the scientists were taking a greater interest in their prize than was strictly professional. Still gazing out the window, he responded evenly, "I see. You realize, of course, that should Godzilla recover, he'll go back to rampaging through Japan as he has so many times before."

"He's only known humanity as his enemies, sir. This may be our only chance to prove to him that it needn't be that way. After all, he brought his son to us, and even animals are capable of gratitude. We have a unique opportunity to try to communicate with him, to end the attacks." Dr. Tomioka's tone was passionate; he believed in what he was saying, however insane it seemed. In a more hushed voice, he finished with, "I know how this sounds, Commander, but the chance is very real." The possibility that Godzilla was sapient was also real, but it was probably just wishful thinking, and he'd already pushed his credibility hard enough for today. "Besides, that energy locus is reason for concern in of itself. Remember Bass Island. That could happen here as well."

With his back still turned, Commander Aso asked wryly, "And compassion has no place in this admirably impartial assessment, Doctor?" Finally turning around to face Tomioka again, he sighed, "I admit that I pity him too, but I cannot allow that to affect my judgment. Thousands, maybe millions of lives are at stake. Science can be satisfied with examining the young one; Godzilla isn't necessary on that account." His voice taking on a deadly serious tone, he inquired, "Tell me, Doctor, in your _professional_ opinion, is this point of heat truly as dangerous as you have said?"

"It is," Tomioka answered promptly, relieved that he could answer in the affirmative. "If it were stable, it would be another fascinating anomaly to do with Godzilla, but it's not. Even after forty years, we have no idea what causes Godzilla's nuclear breath, so we're dealing with the unknown. Considering what happened on Bass Island, our best guess is an overload of some kind, something like a runaway nuclear reaction. A potential meltdown."

Aso bowed his head, the worry and weariness on his face proving that he was human after all. "Very well, treat Godzilla. I will take full responsibility, and hope that I do not dishonor myself." Either way he chose, he would lose face and worse, unless this mad scheme of Tomioka's actually worked. Regaining his erect military posture, he exchanged bows with the elated doctor and left for the privacy of his own office and dark thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Godzilla® is the registered trademark of Toho Co., Ltd. All Godzilla images, characters, etc, are the property of Toho Co., Ltd. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 2

Treating Godzilla was easier said than done, as the scientists found out after an impromptu party in the lab. The heat source had priority over all else, but it was incorporeal. In the mean time, they set up a massive intravenous feed of a saline solution for rehydration, careful to observe the monster's vital signs to see if he had a harmful reaction to it. It was strange to think that he was so fragile now. Daily meetings were conducted to brainstorm, and tasks were assigned to various project heads. One such project was to find out what had happened to Godzilla's regenerative ability. Another, the highest priority, was to somehow cool down that point of heat from the outside. A third was to strip the dead, charred flesh away and protect the living tissue beneath it from an extremely unsanitary environment. Good thing it was late fall and cool, or they'd have to worry about flies and other parasites feeding on Godzilla and mutating into giant insects, though with the increasing temperature, he was becoming unpleasantly hot to touch anyway.

The cooling project scientists first tried the dangerous but innovative idea of refrigerating the saline solution, which helped, but not enough. Next, they began refrigerating his blood. Once again, it slowed the heating but didn't get rid of it. Finally, G-Force equipment was requisitioned for study, specifically the recently-developed freezing beams. Once the theory was understood, they constructed several smaller units. With no other ideas and time becoming critical, they threw all their resources into making this equipment as powerful and efficient as possible.

Meanwhile, dozens of liters of blood were drawn and examined under powerful microscopes. Much of what they found beckoned them along enticing tangents, distracting them from what they were looking for, especially as no cells that could be the basis of regeneration were found. Bone marrow samples were taken, though they broke several diamond drill tips in the process. Some specimens that might have been the mysteriously-missing regenerator cells were found, but they were few and sluggish, not the miraculous cure-all that they were expecting.

The third project was the worst: labor intensive, sickening, with no glory to be had. Still, it had to be done. With that critical lack of regenerator cells, Godzilla might have to heal over a period of weeks or even months like anyone else. Disposal was an issue as well; what does one do with tons of charcoaled dinosaur tissue? They eventually decided to throw it into distant Mount Asama: ashes to ashes. Once the charred mess was removed, the newly exposed muscle tissue and bone were covered with sterile protective plastic, clear so that they could observe any changes in the flesh beneath.

Two of the three days had passed before the new equipment was ready. To keep all the units in place and precisely aligned, they were sewn to the thick, minimally-damaged scales on Godzilla's chest with heavy drills acting as needles and thick cabling as thread. When all was ready, personnel were recalled back to the relative safety of the lab to watch their last-ditch effort. Everyone else in the region had been evacuated in case they failed and that failure resulted in a catastrophic nuclear meltdown.

A computer program had been written to control the operation of the refrigeration units and coordinate them with the cooling of the saline drip and blood. On a makeshift conference room screen, they watched as the animated representations of the units began their operation. A multitude of icy blue rays simultaneously fired, producing a lattice of energy around that troublesome hot spot. At first, it seemed that there was no effect, but slowly... slowly, the hot spot began to cool. 760°C degrees to start with, it dropped to 755°C with frustrating slowness, rose again to 760°C, and then finally settled into a steady downward trend.

A welcome side effect of the cooling was that Godzilla's metabolism slowed as his temperature approached freezing. In some reptiles, extreme cold can induce a hibernative state, and a sleeping monster was a lot easier to deal with than a wakeful, agonized, and probably hostile one. It was a great milestone, though: Godzilla was stable now, no longer deteriorating. The next day, they tried turning off the refrigeration, but his temperature began to rise again. It was a worrisome issue but eventually solved itself: after a week of treatment, the hot spot seemed to have permanently subsided, and though the blood was still refrigerated to keep the monster safely asleep, the units were no longer necessary. Instruments indicated that _something_ was still there in his heart, but at least it was no longer emitting heat.

This was a critical moment. With the danger of a nuclear explosion gone, the question of whether or not Godzilla would be killed came up again. Commander Aso had rarely been seen since his fateful decision, and that remained the case after their success was reported; however, he had committed to this course of action and intended to see it through. Tensions were high, but no orders to cease and desist came from the upper levels.

With the strain that comes of uncertainty along with the baffling problem of why Godzilla wasn't healing, the elation over their success died a quick death. The biochemistry people had the worst of it, as it was all dependent on their findings and theories. The suspected regenerator cells were isolated and subjected to every test imaginable. The cold, they suspected, had something to do with it, but the cells were only slightly more active when transferred into a warmer solution.

A surprise development was the discovery of a similar point of energy within the young one, who they uncreatively named Junior. His resemblance to his adoptive father was growing every day, though DNA tests confirmed that they were not actually related. Conjecture was that this current mutation had been affected by exposure to Godzilla's own radioactivity over the past two years. Junior was an unhappy youngster. His quarters were too small for him, he was growing too fast, and he missed his father. Azusa had to treat his overstretched, cracked scales with vats of moisturizing lotion on almost a daily basis, leaving poor Junior smelling like jasmine and earning a lot of teasing from her coworkers. The youngster was also picky about what he would eat. In the two years since he hatched, he had changed from an herbivore to an omnivore, adding meat and fish to his original diet of plants and fruits.

That led to speculation on whether or not Godzilla himself actually ate anything other than nuclear energy. There were no wear marks on his teeth, but minute traces were found of a surprisingly wide variety of foodstuffs. Fish, seaweed, coconuts, sea mammals like walrus and seal, and even some vegetation. None of that found its way into his stomach, though; it was completely empty, as was the rest of his digestive tract.

During the daily brainstorming session, an elderly, well-respected biologist came up with some rather basic facts about the nature of cell functionality in a multi-cellular creature. Energy was one thing; repairing cells was another. Godzilla fed on energy, that was well known, but his cells would still need the basic nutrients to repair themselves. Tests showed promising results, still not what they expected, but the best they'd seen yet. Finding a large enough supply of nutrients in intravenous form was a challenge, but as Yokkaichi was home to a few biotechnology production plants, their cell growth media was exactly what was needed. The saline drip was still in place, as was the blood shunt for refrigeration, so all they had to do was splice a nutrient feed tube into the saline drip and wait to see what happened.

Almost all the staff were outside to watch for the miracle, but for almost fifteen minutes, nothing happened. The first signs passed almost unnoticed, until a young chemist asked hesitantly if anyone else thought that Godzilla's breathing sounded easier. A technician rushed out from the lab to breathlessly report that the monster's heart was beating more smoothly, followed seconds later by another excited technician to announce that Godzilla's body temperature was fluctuating strangely, not in the heart, but throughout his body. Fueled by the nutrients, the massive body began to rebuild itself, not in a matter of minutes as was typical of him, but over many hours.

The cold slowed it down, they all agreed. Still, it was magical to watch blood vessels grow, muscle and tendons knit themselves together, and dark gray scales emerge from raw flesh to expand over almost the entire body. Over the next two days, the creature completely healed, leaving a very thin and thin-skinned but perfectly healthy Godzilla still in hibernation. Watching it all from his second-floor office was a tense Commander Aso. He wasn't really surprised that they managed to save Godzilla; it seemed that fate decreed that the creature would survive to bring the wisdom of his decision into question.

However, before they awakened the sleeping monster, he wanted to have the upper hand in case Godzilla reacted violently. He would send for heavy weapons support, everything that they had. For once, they didn't have to spread their forces to cover all of Japan and so could concentrate on this one place. The city had already been evacuated, and that left only the personnel in this building at risk, a risk they were willing to take. He too would remain here and face the consequences of his decision, whatever they might be.

The orders went out, but before the artillery could even mobilize, the commander's plans were circumvented by fate in the form of Junior. The youngster was a handful under the best of circumstances, and still fussy, in pain, and bored with his basement enclosure, he figured out that those regular grooves in the ceiling, part of the huge sliding doors, were something into which he wanted to get his claws. It was only a matter of minutes before he pried them open and leaped up and out, despite Azusa's pleas to stop. He paid even less attention to the poor woman when he spotted his sleeping father. Joyfully bounding to his side, he nuzzled against Godzilla's chest, finding it alarmingly cold. Too cold. His joy transformed to worry, and he growled, whined, and nudged more insistently, demanding attention. A cold, limp arm was jostled into deceptive motion, but that was all the reaction he could get. The unnerved youngster planted his feet in the dirt, threw back his head, and howled loudly enough to wake the dead. After all, it worked with Rodan.

The scientists manning the instrumentation began shouting in panic as Godzilla's vital signs abruptly spiked in response to the cry, but there was really no time to react. By the time Azusa took the stairs up to the ground level and rushed out of the building, dazed yellow-brown eyes were opening. Junior's hysterical wailing had roused Godzilla from his torpor, and though confused and cold, he awakened enough to focus on calming the youngster. Azusa stood nearby, almost in touching distance and in imminent danger of being accidentally crushed. Dr. Tomioka, a later arrival, gently pulled her back towards the dubious shelter of the building. They were joined by a grim-faced Commander Aso and several scientists, all of whom were watching the reunion in uneasy silence.

The moment they dreaded finally came; Godzilla's spines lit up, but instead of a nuclear blast, there was a minor burst of heat from the monster, warming his chilled body. Along with the banishment of the cold came more alertness and a keener perception of his surroundings. As he held Junior to his chest and stroked him gently, palm flattened to keep his claws from scratching him, he assessed his surroundings. His gaze was drawn to the nearby building and the quiet humans watching them, pretty much all there was in the immediate vicinity. Heavy brow ridges drew closer together, narrowing the amber eyes and converting the look into a dangerous glare, but mere seconds later, he had relaxed again, his steady gaze now fixed on Azusa. He watched her for a moment, and then his eyes drifted left and right to examine the other humans. Commander Aso, Dr. Tomioka, and several scientists either stood still or fidgeted nervously under his stare, depending on their individual personalities and courage.

Godzilla's reassuring strokes halted as something else caught his attention. He looked at his hand, and a clumsy, opposable thumb awkwardly rubbed against the rest of his fingers, finding something odd on them. Slippery. Bringing the hand to his nose, he sniffed curiously and immediately snorted to clear his nostrils of the nasty odor, holding the offending hand away from himself. The sound of almost hysterical chuckles came from below, along with a quiet, "See? Godzilla doesn't like it either," muttered to a red-faced Azusa. The monster made an effort to wipe his palm on the ground around him, but to no avail. Since his hand was already contaminated and Junior reeked of it anyway, he snorted again and resumed soothing the youngster.

Once Junior had calmed down a bit, Godzilla held him at arm's length and began carefully examining him, both visually and with his fingers. The youngster had grown noticeably, but size wasn't all that had changed. His body shape had lost its baby awkwardness and proportions, lengthening more than widening. His tail was almost half again as long as it had been, and his muzzle had lengthened as well. The few baby teeth were gone, replaced by a double row of jagged fangs like his father's. The clumsy, clawed fingers were longer and more flexible, curling tightly around Godzilla's own fingers. The inspection done, Junior was released and wriggled his way to a comfortable if awkward sleeping place under his father's arm and chin.

Godzilla had in effect been sleeping for days and wasn't the slightest bit sleepy himself. Instead, he draped one arm loosely over the youngster and went back to looking around. The barren cityscape held little interest for him, so he returned his attention to the humans. Though unnerving when fixed on an individual, there was no hostility in the amber eyes, only quiet contentment, curiosity, and faint puzzlement. Dr. Tomioka's insane gamble seemed to have paid off. Commander Aso was deeply grateful for that and politely excused himself from the spontaneous celebration to rush to his office and cancel the requisitioned firepower. He had almost made a critical mistake, considering what Godzilla's reaction would be if he saw an army coming at him and his son.

Now that things had calmed down, Godzilla rid himself of the intravenous feed in his arm, ripping it out and violently flinging it away from himself, the tubing perhaps a bit too reminiscent of the shock anchor cables MechaGodzilla used on him a few years ago. Not only did the small wound heal instantly, but that ended the refrigeration of his blood as well. He eyed the rest of the equipment surrounding him, but none of it resembled weapons and thus didn't trigger any more aggressive reactions, though if the silvery wiring and complex instruments weren't small enough to escape his notice, he would have clawed those off as well.

Inside, readings showed a stable temperature of 25°C, sparking another debate as to whether or not the two mutated Godzillasaurs were naturally warm-blooded, or if the mysterious energy locus was somehow responsible for maintaining that temperature. No one dared to place any other instruments on the monster to test their theories; they were just grateful that the existing equipment was still in place. Junior would be a less dangerous choice for testing, but he would also be difficult to pin down. Free of his enclosure now, the youngster would take full advantage of his new mobility.

After Junior awakened from his nap, Godzilla rose stiffly to his feet and leisurely stretched, arching his neck and back as far as they would go, followed by bending forward almost close enough to touch the ground, and ending with his tail curling up, left, and right, all accompanied by the crackling of massive joints. Huge, curving claws on fingers and toes retracted part way and then extended again as he surveyed his territory: the coastal plain containing the small city of Yokkaichi to the southeast, and beyond it, the white sand beaches and calm blue waters of Ise Bay itself, tall mountains to the north and the west. The wavering course by which he reached this place was also visible; his blood-stained footprints were still obvious from a height. However, there were no slow tanks crawling on the ground, no stinging battleships in the ocean, and not even any ineffectual aircraft in the skies. His wary eyes found no threats.

Below, Azusa was trying to get Junior to hold still long enough for another application of lotion, but the young Godzillasaur was too exuberant about the reunion with his father, and his joyous jouncing was coming close to actually injuring her. Azusa received help from an unexpected source: Godzilla glanced down at her and then at his errant child, and Junior stopped dead in his tracks, head and tail drooping at the silent reprimand. After that, he was obediently still, outside of a lot of minor fidgeting. His subdued mood didn't last more than a few minutes before he brightened again. The lotion felt good on his sore skin, and he loved the attention. Not the spraying of the lotion, but the rubdown that went with it. He lay down, helpfully rolling from side to side as Azusa directed.

As the thick scent of jasmine rose upwards, Godzilla snorted again and took a step backward from the fouled air, tail lashing in annoyance. Junior looked upwards at his father but didn't seem fazed by his displeasure. The behemoth's acute distaste was clear to everyone else in the vicinity, even those inside who weren't present to read his body language. The sense of annoyance and revulsion was distinct enough to startle the scientists from their work, not only from the strength of the emotions but from the fact that they were somehow receiving them. There was not the slightest doubt as to the source of the broadcast, so when the technicians manning the neural scan station called out that something was happening, the scientists gathered around the monitor showing the three-dimensional image of Godzilla's brain via the sensors still attached to his head.

Replaying the past five minutes showed a distinct change in the brainwave patterns in his frontal lobe. Another input was added, that from Junior's own sensors, and the two were compared. About five minutes previously, Godzilla's pattern synchronized briefly with Junior's, and then most recently, it happened again, at the exact time they all felt the creature's emotions. A volunteer was quickly fitted out with sensors, and his scans made a third input. The readings became very confused at that point, a virtual maelstrom of apparently effortless electrical activity in the monster's brain, and only computer analysis was able to break out the different patterns, among them, Junior's and the volunteer's. "What is he doing?" someone whispered, though they were beginning to suspect the answer. With several more volunteers, more patterns were extracted, resulting in exact matches for all of them. When Dr. Tomioka arrived, they could state with a fair amount of confidence, "We believe that Godzilla is telepathically broadcasting his emotions to us, Doctor."

"Requisition records from the Psychic Institute for comparison," he instructed, pleased and excited at this new discovery. Communication with the creature was becoming more and more likely, and he couldn't be happier. That should ease some of Commander Aso's fears as well. Despite his gloomy silence, the good commander kept up with every development, and it was surprising that he wasn't already here... _Ah, here he comes now._ Dr. Tomioka took the newly-arrived commander aside to brief him on the new findings. Trapped in his own pessimism, Aso seemed positive that things would turn out poorly.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Godzilla® is the registered trademark of Toho Co., Ltd. All Godzilla images, characters, etc, are the property of Toho Co., Ltd. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: I'm sorry to say that all I know of Japanese culture comes from Godzilla movies and Inuyasha. Please forgive any cultural gaffes.

Chapter 3

In the subsequent days, they determined that Godzilla's telepathic range was relatively short, little more than 100 meters in distance. They also determined that he had very particular likes and dislikes of certain personnel, proving that his telepathy worked both ways. Three scientists had lost friends or family to the kaiju's attacks, and their hostile feelings towards him were met with equal - and more effective - hostility in the form of fierce warning growls, narrowing of amber eyes, and tensing of the body. For their own safety, two of the three were immediately dismissed from the project before they came into Godzilla's reach, and he could act on his dislike. The last of the three, a promising young chemist who lost both parents as a child, was anxious to stay and so promised to try to moderate his feelings. He was apparently successful, as Godzilla's own antagonism towards him slowly faded away.

At any moment, they expected that Godzilla would take his youngster and leave, but the kaiju seemed content to stay and watch while Junior was being cared for. They could feel his sporadic curiosity and increasing boredom; he had little to do outside of studying them, and their work normally kept them inside. A compromise was reached, in that many of them would make periodic visits outside to keep him interested. They kept to a respectful distance, as no one was foolish enough to come close enough to touch him. Especially if he were napping and didn't realize that anyone was about. Like Junior, his tail twitched when he slept, and something that was cute in a Baby Godzillasaur could easily be fatal in the adult.

Something that they came to suspect very quickly was that he was actually making an effort not to harm them. If Junior became too rambunctious, a frequent occurrence, he would receive a stern telepathic reminder from his father to calm down. When Godzilla himself rose or lay down again, he did so when all personnel were clear. He wasn't so considerate about equipment; crushing a truck that had accidentally been parked too close to his usual resting place didn't bother him at all. This cooperative behavior surprised and delighted them.

Much like Godzilla, Takaki Aso spent most of his time watching and waiting, studying his personal devil from his second-floor office with mingled fear and despair. Oh, he didn't fear for himself but for the consequences of his decision. It didn't help that the devil in question was equally interested in studying _him_. Almost every time he looked out his window, the creature was staring back at him. He silently begged Godzilla to kill him first if he was going to kill anyone. Bedeviled by images of mass destruction and refusing to allow himself to hope, he slept little, and when he did, nightmares haunted his sleep.

He was burning. Even the heated water around him was blanketed with sickly green flames that seared into his body and mind, hurting him, _changing_ him into something monstrous. The flames transfigured into bubbles and sorrow, inexplicably intertwined. Somewhere nearby, someone, some_thing_ mourned: remorse and shame, apology and pain, grief and fear. The emotions overwhelmed him, and he felt a strange desire to comfort the mourner, but something was choking his breath away, consuming him... A vision of Tokyo followed, devastated almost as much as Hiroshima or Nagasaki by Godzilla's first rampage there. A small, weeping child dug desperately through the rubble for his family while buildings burned fiercely around him. Last came a visit to the heart of the Inferno: a blaze of incandescent light and energy that could only be the core of a detonating atomic bomb. He was burning again.

An earth-shaking crash woke the man, quickly followed by another and another. Rising from his futon, he stumbled to the window and realized that he wasn't the only one suffering from nightmares. Horribly enough, he still felt the burning. Lights were coming on from inside the lower floor; he could see it sparkling off of Godzilla's wiring. The massive tail slammed down with another loud thump, perilously close to hitting the building, and it was enough to disturb even a heavy sleeper like Junior. The youngster woke up and added to the ruckus with his own voice, wailing unhappily, and that finally woke Godzilla. The monster's huge head lifted, startled and disoriented amber eyes reflecting the light as they darted from side to side in search of an enemy. A few seconds later, the unpleasant sensations vanished, and the tail lashing stopped.

Aso stared through the window, and as expected, Godzilla's gaze slowly drifted to peer back at him. "So, you have nightmares, too," he muttered to the monster, feeling strangely better now that he wasn't the only one disturbed by all of this. Godzilla held his gaze for another minute before returning his attention to his fussy, irritable child. It took a good half hour before Junior settled back to sleep, curled over his father's forearm. Downstairs, scientists and technicians were discussing the readings, the implications of the readings, and the emotions many of them had felt. Aso expected that they would have some answers for him by morning, so for now, he pulled a chair to the window and sat down to watch. He didn't feel able to sleep any more this night, and apparently neither did Godzilla. The creature laid his head back down, but his eyes were open and equally wakeful. "Yes, that was me," Aso told him. "I lost my parents and my two brothers in Tokyo that night. _Why?_ Why did you attack?"

Though not really expecting an answer, he received one, a replay of the green-burning water with more details: horrible pain, terrible _wrongness_, loss, grief for the small, still figure that lay on the ocean floor beside him, loneliness, and anger. Images of trespassers in _his_ territory, loud explosions, and looming over it all, the discordant din of a ghastly noise so overwhelming and oppressive as to be like a crushing physical weight. Accusation. Godzilla was still unmoving outside, but his amber eyes blazed.

"Tomioka was right after all." Aso whispered. "We _can_ communicate with you." Just using emotions and mental images, he had managed to ask a question and get an answer. The issue of Godzilla's grievance with humanity, though, was a valid one, and he didn't know how to address it. Japan was also a victim of the atomic bomb, but he didn't accept that excuse. Humanity made Godzilla what he was now, and as a representative of his species, he owed this creature... this _being_... an accounting.

Rising slowly to his feet, he snapped to attention. Outside the window, Godzilla was still staring, still waiting. The lights had been turned off again, and only the bright starlight reflecting in his eyes made them visible. Taking a deep breath, Aso visualized the memory he had already been shown twice, the green fire in the water. He affirmed the feeling of wrongness and added sorrow and regret, horror and revulsion for what it was and what it had done. The terrible noise, however, baffled him, and he relayed as much.

Godzilla responded with impatience and anger. A repeat of the near-insanity-inducing noise was followed by more accusation; it was obvious that he was certain of humanity's guilt in this. Distrust. Flashes of memory showed a vision of another Japanese soldier who offered his regrets and gratitude, revealed to be hypocrisy due to the underlying intent to abandon his injured savior. Aso was shaken. He knew part of this story, and from what he'd just learned, it was totally unacceptable. That a member of Japan's Imperial army should do such a thing was disgraceful, even though the man's guilt and shame also came through. Hurriedly dressing himself, he quietly slipped out of his room and took the staircase downstairs, passing by the guard at the doors without a word.

His footsteps were especially noticeable in the silence as he picked his way across the broken ground towards the waiting leviathan. It took a few minutes to reach his head, especially as there was only starlight to guide him in the darkness, but he eventually felt the warmth of Godzilla's breath and saw the glimmer of his eyes. The creature had raised his head slightly, enough to get a good view of him. Stopping in easy reach of either claws or teeth, he silently offered his passionate regret, his intense shame, and his own life in expiation of the dishonor done by his countryman. With bowed head, he waited for judgment.

That judgment, however, had already been passed. Aso saw a new image: lofty buildings wreathed in smoke, flames, and strange radiances in "colors" that the human mind could not comprehend. Inside one such building, so tall that it even loomed over _him_, was a small, recognizable pattern of emotions: regret, shame, and the same self-sacrifice that Aso was now offering. In the end, Shindo acknowledged his betrayal and dishonor and accepted his punishment. His life force was extinguished in incandescent blue fire, and the building was smashed into rubble. Strangely enough, there was a degree of regret on Godzilla's part, but his mind at that time was a maelstrom of rage, confusion, pain, and a desire for vengeance that could only be satisfied by destruction.

The verdict wasn't long in coming. At such close range, Godzilla's emotions and the complex, undecipherable structure of his thoughts were much stronger. An unpleasantly graphic image of a huge, clawed fist crushing his frail human body was accompanied by an overemphasized lack of satisfaction in the act. Even if Aso held himself responsible for Shindo's actions, Godzilla did not: that personal betrayal had already been avenged. Aso's apology was accepted. In further explanation, the kaiju projected a sampling of various personnel's emotions from the past few days: excitement, respect, friendliness, and pride. Many workers greeted him pleasantly as they arrived in the morning, even though they didn't expect that he would understand. He didn't comprehend the sounds, but he felt their goodwill, their eagerness to help. And then there was Aso. The darkness of his emotions was so blatant that Godzilla could hardly miss it, and it piqued the creature's curiosity.

Aso bowed formally in recognition of the forgiveness he had been so graciously granted, still somewhat chastened that such a betrayal had been allowed to happen in the first place. "I thank you for my life, O-sama," he murmured, feeling older than his years after the stress of the past two weeks. At the same time, he felt the stirrings of a hope that had been ruthlessly suppressed until now. Hope, gratitude, and relief mixed with interest and curiosity, the last two feelings being Godzilla's, not his.

This was an amazing, a miraculous start, but only a start. There was still a mystery to be solved, and he framed his thoughts accordingly. He projected curiosity of his own in combination with the sensations he had been shown earlier, the inexplicable, noisy pain. That triggered immediate annoyance and smoldering anger in Godzilla. Aso quickly responded with feelings of apology, followed by confusion, curiosity, and an urgent _need_ to understand. Godzilla's answer was exasperation, frustration, and disbelief. The accusation returned. Whatever it was, he expected humanity in the person of Aso to already know of it.

All Aso could do was repeat his sequence of feelings and plead for indulgence. Godzilla finally agreed to the request, and Aso was suddenly seeing through his eyes. He felt the echo of his own emotions coming from the tiny, weakly-glowing figure so close to him, saw the energy flowing through the underground electrical wiring, felt the intense blaze of the phantom fire within him, sensed the workings of the instruments in the first floor labs, but only for a few seconds. The pain, the noise, felt first-hand was unendurable. It no sooner touched him, than he fell away into darkness.

When he awoke, he was lying on the ground, the sun shining through the vertical blinds of the window. Except that there was no window, and those weren't blinds; they were Godzilla's ivory-clawed fingers. The kaiju had cupped his hand over the man while he slept. Peering through the relaxed, loosely-separated fingers was a curious Junior. As Aso stiffly scrambled to his feet, he leaned against a charcoal-gray finger for support, muttering apologies for his familiarity. He felt Godzilla's awareness of him, the continued interest and curiosity. "That was _terrible_!" Aso said out loud, feeling the creature's agreement. "How do you stand it?" The answer was swift in coming and very chilling: the image of a vengeful god visiting Armageddon upon the ones who offended him, thus alleviating his pain in the fires of the Inferno. All the man could do was offer his apologies and non-understanding again, along with his determination to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Slipping between the fingers, Aso offered a polite greeting to Junior and then glanced at the position of the sun in the sky. He must've slept for hours after sunrise. His uniform was rumpled, and he tried to smooth it enough to be presentable. Well, maybe it would do for long enough to reach his quarters. One last thing... He requested a favor of Godzilla, which was granted with a great deal of puzzlement on the leviathan's part. Stepping forward to rest a hand on the creature's dark, scaled chest, he experienced the same awe and privilege that the scientists had before him. Mysterious and mystical beast, who was reborn in a nuclear inferno to become the most powerful force on the planet, terrible in his vengeance, yet still capable of mercy, possessing an order of intelligence vastly different from but still a match for the humans who so arrogantly proclaimed themselves the masters of Earth.

Stepping back, he bowed in respect and wished the kaiju a good day. He had work to do. As he walked to the makeshift headquarters building, he could still feel Godzilla's quizzical regard following him upstairs before finally fading away. After a shower and change of clothing, he looked outside his window to see that Godzilla was now preoccupied with his youngster, who was bored and ripe for mischief, and he wondered where the two of them would go now that Bass Island was gone. Perhaps that was why Godzilla hadn't left yet. Junior was being particularly rowdy today, a trial of his father's patience, and Aso was glad that poor Azusa didn't have to deal with him alone.

Dr. Tomioka was in his office, studying the readouts from the previous night's excitement. When Commander Aso appeared, he greeted him cheerfully and began his summary of the findings. Not everyone received Godzilla's nightmares, and those who did weren't connected to the equipment, so no direct matches were found this time, but it proved that the creature dreamed. He was also expecting a reptile biologist later today, to check into some theories about Godzilla's behavior. There was some debate about the behemoth's gender due to his protectiveness and nurturing behavior, something that was rare in reptile females and almost unheard of in males. This would be the same man who had examined Junior after he was hatched, so he had a basis for comparison.

His mind on more urgent matters, the mention of Godzilla possibly being a female jolted Aso's attention back to the present. "Godzilla-sama, a female? That's preposterous." The kaiju's mind had nothing feminine in it. Or did it? He frowned, realizing that he wouldn't be able to tell. "The fact that he's a fine father doesn't mean that he's a female," he finally finished uncertainly.

"Godzilla-_sama_?" Tomioka repeated thoughtfully, emphasizing the honorific. It appeared that someone had had a change of heart. "Well, it will be confirmed one way or another very soon." He studied the commander, noting that he looked even more tired than usual, but calmer. Whatever his inner devils were, he'd apparently conquered them. That, and his unexpectedly respectful title for Godzilla implied that things would be much better both for the monster and for the scientists who valued him not only for what they could learn from him but for who he was.

"Dr. Tomioka," Aso began, abruptly changing the subject, "You mentioned that the first brain scans indicated an overload due to pain. Would you expand upon that, please?" He leaned forward, his dark eyes intent on the doctor.

Now that was an unexpected topic, and Tomioka had to gather his thoughts before he could come up with an answer. "That was our original belief, Commander, but since the same pattern has continued all this time, we have to assume that it is not pain but something else, something normal for him. It is centered in what we believe is the limbic system of his brain, which is to do with emotional stimuli, and may be related to his telepathic ability."

"It is pain, terrible pain," Aso told him curtly, "And it is now the first priority of your staff. Find out what causes it, and how to stop it." He hesitated, reluctant to share something so... personal with anyone else, but if it helped motivate the man, then it was worthwhile. "I've felt it myself, Doctor, and it is the basis of his attacks on our cities. Godzilla-sama is very certain that we, humanity, are the cause of it."

"Godzilla-sama is certain..." Tomioka blurted, stunned at the implications of that statement. "You have communicated with him?!" His astonishment was quickly replaced by fierce exultation. He was right, Godzilla was sapient! "Please, Commander, tell me how you have done this. I have been certain from the first time I saw the brain scans, but I had no way of proving it, since his brain is not human... It is the telepathy, isn't it?"

"Yes, telepathy. We shared our nightmares last night, he and I. You were right, Doctor, about all of it. About his sapience and about the hope of peace between us, but it all depends on solving the mystery of his pain. Do you understand now? We _must_ find the answer!" Aso rose restlessly to his feet and walked over to the window.

As with his own office, this one faced towards Godzilla, but from a lower perspective; all that was visible was a huge arm and Junior's swishing tail. Nonetheless, he knew that Godzilla was aware of him. He could _feel_ it. Although he would like to explain what he was trying to do to the kaiju, it was difficult for something this complex with only images and emotions. Another telepath would be most useful, someone like Miki Saegusa... It was a shame that the talented young woman was still in a coma after her accident, as this would be the fulfillment of her greatest desire. Her feelings towards Godzilla were well known, both among the command staff of G-Force and the rank and file, and now she too had been proven right about Godzilla.

Their meeting was interrupted by the early arrival of Dr. Yamada, the reptile biologist. To say that he was amazed by the object of his visit would be an understatement, but he was quickly infected with the same enthusiasm and awe as the other scientists, and indeed requested a position on Dr. Tomioka's team. Junior was also remarked upon, especially the physiological changes since the last time he'd seen the youngster. Oh, and he confirmed that Godzilla was indeed a male of his kind, though the evidence also indicated that the monster was a juvenile. Not to the extent that Junior was, but not an adult of the species, which made his parenting ability even more inexplicable.

Godzilla himself became noticeably more sociable. When greeted in the mornings, he would return a feeling of pleasant acknowledgment and sometimes even initiated the contact. Commander Aso distributed a memo stating firstly that no one was to speak to any outsiders about the kaiju, and secondly, that Godzilla was an honored guest. Testing became both easier and more difficult: easier in that they didn't have to fear any retaliation to the placement of instruments, and more difficult in that they had to "explain" what they were doing to him. For the most part, Godzilla endured the tests with remarkable patience.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Godzilla® is the registered trademark of Toho Co., Ltd. All Godzilla images, characters, etc, are the property of Toho Co., Ltd. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 4

All that changed in the next week. It started innocuously enough. A play fight between Godzilla and Junior broke out one morning after 15,000 tons of exuberant youngster pounced onto his dozing father's chest, not only jarring Godzilla awake but knocking the breath out of him. The elder kaiju responded by throwing himself into a roll, spines digging deep into the ground as he turned over, and flinging Junior off as he landed on his other side. At first the scientific team was startled and worried by the apparent fierceness of the battle, but the playfulness and enthusiasm being emoted reassured them. Vicious snarls and growls, attempts to pin each other, clawing, and even biting would deceive almost anyone else into thinking that this was a fight to the death, but none of the attacks were enough to even break the skin. Junior seemed to win as Godzilla went limp after a particularly violent stranglehold on his throat, but in mid-victory roar, Godzilla came back to life and knocked the youngster's feet out from under him with a tail swipe. A clawed hand closed on the youngster's shoulder, pinning him down. Junior yelped indignantly and squirmed as his father nonchalantly took an imaginary bite out of his upper arm, pretended to chew it, and finally swallowed.

The sound of alarms blared faintly through the open front doors, as at the same time, Godzilla flinched visibly and then froze in place. All emotional broadcasting ceased. Junior's eyes widened, and he stared at his father, a muffled whimper escaping him. This barely had time to register before Godzilla threw his head back and roared in fury, the rage detectible in both the cry and in the renewed emotional emanations. Protest, anger, pain, frustration, and the drive for revenge battered the startled and appalled humans, some of whom passed out from the violence of the inadvertent telepathic assault. Those who were still able to move dragged their fallen comrades inside, frightened, worried, and suffering from terrific headaches. Upstairs, Commander Aso was out cold. All was confusion for the next ten minutes before the team members pulled themselves together and got to work.

The alarms were from the sensors measuring Godzilla's limbic system activity, and the pattern that had been defined as the mysterious pain had taken a sudden, massive upwards swing. There were no warning signs at all, just a sudden spike in the electrical activity, and Godzilla's mind was somehow being overloaded. Another technician called out, pointing to a building concentration of G-Cells converging on the brain just as Dr. Tomioka staggered in, also suffering from the backlash of the telepathic contact. "His brain is actually being damaged," someone whispered, "But it's regenerating. Neural tissue _can't_ regenerate!" That naive comment earned a quick rebuke from Tomioka. "We have no idea what Godzilla-sama's cells can and cannot do. His secondary brain regenerated with the energy provided by Rodan, so it's not unreasonable that his primary brain can as well."

Outside, Godzilla panted as he dug his enormous claws into the ground beside him, gouging huge chunks of mingled earth and concrete loose. Junior whined miserably and did the only thing he could think of to help: vigorously licked his father's head. Despite Godzilla's suffering, he didn't lash out at either Junior or the building full of humans that was now behind him, just methodically raked his claws into the ground over and over again, snarling savagely as he fought both the pain and the compulsion to destroy.

"We_must_ help him," Commander Aso weakly told the worried team as he wobbled into the lab area some fifteen minutes later, leaning against the wall for support. Dr. Tomioka provided the man with a chair and gave a quick report on their findings so far, most of which confirmed what they already knew. Godzilla's rampages, as opposed to his raids for energy, were more random, and this was apparently the direct cause of it. The cause of the cause, though, still escaped them. It was completely out of the blue. The commitment was there to solve this, but it wouldn't be done quickly. For now, all they could do was offer mental apologies to the kaiju and express their determination to help him. A pained, baffled acknowledgment was returned, along with some kind of personal acquittal. They had no idea what that meant, but it seemed encouraging.

The attack of pain lasted close to twelve hours before being interrupted by yet another mystery that evening. Godzilla was lying still at this point. Physically, he was fine, but his brain had to keep regenerating to keep up with the damage being done. That night, neural sensor readings spiked in a different area. The kaiju abruptly lifted his head, seeming to listen, and the neural scans took on an unknown pattern, evidence of some kind of telepathic activity. The kaiju suddenly lurched to his feet to stare seaward. Junior looked inquiringly up at him, and the neural pattern changed again to match Junior's in an answer, one that seemed to puzzle the youngster. The unknown pattern merged with Junior's in Godzilla's mind; he was simultaneously communicating with both, as they had seen before. He tended to synchronize patterns with most of the team at the same time, something that still amazed them and defied the standards laid out in the Psychic Institute's records. The pain was still there, but Godzilla was distracted by something, enough that he moved towards the ocean at what was a very fast pace for him. Junior made no attempt to follow, just watched his father leave, tail lashing fitfully. There was a sense of urgent purpose, a mission, and the team fervently hoped that it was not one of destruction.

Nothing was heard for the next three hours, until Godzilla was sighted moving northeast off the east coast of Japan. The fears of an imminent assault on Tokyo were laid to rest when he continued past that brightly-lit city without pausing, swimming quickly enough that only aircraft could keep up. Commander Aso ordered G-Force to track him from a distance but not to engage unless he actually attacked. The Minister of Defense wasn't happy with this turn of events and was pressuring the commander to deal with Godzilla as quickly as possible. Aso, who had postponed telling the Minister and G-Force Committee about the Godzilla project, was in a bad position but refused to back down. He would give them a full report later, he promised.

Godzilla came ashore near Hitachinaka, following the shallow inlet as far as possible before leaving the water to move inland. His course was northwest, and to Aso's great relief, he seemed to avoid the townships in his way, diverting either north or south to bypass them. Most would never have known that the leviathan had passed so close by but for his earth-shaking footsteps in the dark. A projection of his course gave no clues as to his destination; there seemed to be nothing that could be of any interest to him in that direction. At midnight, he came to a stop outside the city of Utsunomiya, seventy miles north of Tokyo. He circled the city twice and halted. This was apparently his objective. Aso boarded a military helicopter to fly to Utsunomiya as quickly as possible.

* * *

The drug-induced stupor usually kept her passive, uncaring, and barely conscious during the daily conditioning sessions at the quiet clinic, but tonight, a familiar reverberation echoed in her dulled mind and soul. "Godzilla!" Her knowledge crystallized at the same instant that a savage, unmistakable roar shattered window glass for miles. Her fading telepathy strengthened and reached out to him, sensing his anger, pain, and worry. Was she hallucinating again? She'd been here for months with no hope of rescue, and she was no longer sure of what was real and what wasn't. Dazed and weak, her mind met with his, and her lethargy was instantly banished. Despite the pain and anger, his mind was strong, so very strong, and sheltering within it protected her from the effects of the drugs. For the first time since her arrival in this terrible place, she was fully lucid.

"Godzilla..." she repeated as the warning sirens went off. She felt his recognition, his welcome, and his protectiveness towards her, a dream come true. Maybe she _was_ hallucinating. Along with the warmer emotions, she sensed his seething anger and desire to destroy, fueled by pain. Someone had done this to her, and he wanted to crush them. A target, he wanted a target. Her thoughts involuntarily flickered to Akio and Kiko Natsuki, the wealthy brother and sister entrepreneurs who were trying to brainwash her, all for something as petty as corporate espionage. Godzilla caught the images, but images as identification were worthless to a creature his size, and he growled in frustration.

She automatically tried to soothe his desire to destroy, but she was interrupted by Kiko's arrival, come to collect her valuable property before evacuating from the city via the company jet. Miki was roughly dragged out of the clinic, helpless to resist in her drugged state, and pushed into the limousine for the short trip to the nearby airstrip. She heard the sound of jets - _G-Force?_ - and began to struggle, but she simply didn't have the strength. Akio was already inside, and Kiko slid in after her, slamming the door shut and shouting at the chauffeur to drive.

Things did not go according to plan, because the sound of tremendous footsteps from behind warned that Godzilla was following, even if darkness still cloaked him from their sight. The driver panicked, flooring the heavy vehicle to try to outdistance the pursuing kaiju, but they only gained a little bit of distance. "You're controlling him!" Kiko shrieked hysterically and mistakenly. "Make him stop!" Before Miki could pull herself together to answer, the limousine hit something and slid into a skid. They hit something else, and the car began to roll, metal creaking from the strain and glass from shattered windows showering the passengers. Miki, the only one without a seatbelt, hit her head on the roof of the car and knew no more.

The battered car slid to a halt on its side, and first the dazed driver then the two Natsuki siblings crawled unsteadily out, leaving the unconscious Miki inside. The airstrip was in sight, and deserting the unlucky chauffeur, the Natsukis ran for it. Retribution was not far behind, though it went no further than the wrecked car. Instead, a blinding spiral of red, yellow, and white fire darted after them, reduced them to wisps of smoke within a pool of molten silica, and set the immediate surroundings aflame. The dazed and frightened chauffeur was spared, though a vicious warning growl encouraged him to go somewhere else.

Commander Aso, closing on Godzilla's new location by helicopter, received word of an attack, and despite the fear that Godzilla was fulfilling his worst nightmares, he put his trust in the kaiju and refused permission for G-Force to attack. It's not like conventional military weapons had much effect on the monster anyway. There were no further attacks by Godzilla after that, he was told, and the monster was stationary again. He breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his seat. ETA was five minutes.

Even as he relaxed, an unbearably strong burst of sensation impacted his mind, followed by startled recognition, recoil, and then immediate reconnection at a less potent level. Godzilla was reaching out to him, broadcasting alarm, concern, urgency, demand, and a powerful summons. The pain was still there, as was the anger, but pushed into the background for now. Aso felt a headache coming on but sent non-understanding and inquiry in return. In response, he was in Godzilla's mind again. A small fire burned perhaps a few paces away, but that wasn't the focus of the monster's attention. He was bent over, staring at a tiny, overturned limousine. Within his awareness, he could sense the presence of a multitude of mental patterns, but only two were nearby. One was slowly retreating, and the other was inside the wrecked vehicle. It was the one within the car that held his attention. For some reason, this one was important to him.

Godzilla projected an image of breaking the car open to release its occupant, but even if he took great care, it would be crushed in his grip. Renewed urgency, intense frustration at his inability to cope with the situation, and a demand for help, not for himself but for this other. For that, he needed Aso, who was just now coming into his sensory range. The noise and energy patterns that made up the helicopter identified him, as did the very unique energy pattern that defined a life, his life. At that point, the vision faded away, leaving Aso back in his own mind and grateful for it. These mental sessions were exhausting.

Despite his pilot's alarm, Aso told him curtly that he had nothing to fear and had him set down next to the car, Godzilla looming overhead. Jumping out, he ran to the limousine and climbed inside, muttering to himself that he was getting too old for this kind of activity. The only illumination was the flickering light from the fire up ahead, so all he could see was the huddled, unmoving form of a woman inside. Checking her pulse, he found that she was still alive but appeared to be unconscious. There was no way to tell if there were broken bones, so he didn't dare move her. Godzilla mentally nudged at him, wanting answers, and he tried to frame it in a way that the monster could understand. An image of a human being, of the skeletal system, and damage to the spine or head. He paused, uncertain of where to go from there, and then continued with an image of Godzilla's own skeleton with the same damage for comparison. The kaiju healed quickly, but the human did not.

Poking his head out of the side door, which was now the roof of the vehicle, Aso shouted to the pilot to radio for medical transport for a female victim to the nearest hospital that hadn't been evacuated. Godzilla pressed him for more details, but he had none to give, not even a certainty as to whether or not any bones were actually broken. The kaiju seemed to think about it and then visualized the tiny, erratic energy emissions of the waterlogged instruments that were still attached to him, proving that he'd actually been paying attention to the awkward explanations given him by the scientists who attached them. "Yes," he confirmed wearily, "They will be doing something like that, O-sama."

The paramedics who drove up ten minutes later completely missed seeing Godzilla until it was too late for a hasty retreat. Aso managed to calm their fears long enough to get the woman prepped for transportation but then had to decide whether or not to go with her. On one hand, this person was important to Godzilla-sama, but on the other hand, he had a feeling that the kaiju would try to follow the ambulance to the hospital. He decided to risk going with them, mentally begging Godzilla to stay where he was, to trust him. It was only when he climbed into the ambulance that he finally got a good look at the injured woman and recognized her immediately. "Miki Saegusa! But how can she be here?!"

His surprise disturbed Godzilla, who was still very anxious, and he had to take a few minutes to calm the creature down, broadcasting his surprise, recognition, and sense of responsibility for Miss Saegusa in explanation. After that, he tried to inquire about how the kaiju knew where to find her. Something to do with telepathy, he was sure, but it would be nice to have verification. It also occurred to him that he was technically out of Godzilla's telepathic range now, or at least what they _thought_ it was. What he received in return was a replay of the events of several hours ago. Overwhelming noise, and mixed into it was a cry for help from a mind he recognized. Sheer stubbornness kicked in, laboriously shoving the noise to one side so he could listen and seek the source of that call. His mental vision expanded, including huge, overlaying patterns of stable energy that Aso could not understand, but that Godzilla used to determine her location. The vision was interrupted by their arrival at the hospital, and Aso was directed to a waiting room while Miki was rushed into one of the emergency rooms.

Spying a pay phone, he called into G-Center, reaffirmed his strict orders not to engage Godzilla, sent for portable com gear so that he could keep track of what was going on, and dispatched security officers to the Tokyo hospital where Miki Saegusa was being cared for to investigate who the imposter was. Considering Godzilla's reaction, the woman he brought here had to be the real one. That done, he seated himself to wait for word on Miki's condition. The monster wasn't happy about the wait, but he seemed to understand.

Results from G-Center came faster than results on Miki. A com van was airlifted to the Utsunomiya airstrip, along with soldiers to man the gear and some of his subordinates to take his orders. The fingerprints of the comatose woman at Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital proved that she was Rei Tamur, a young woman reported missing months ago. Examination by doctors revealed that she had recently undergone plastic surgery, and that she had been poisoned. Unfortunately, there was no hope of any recovery for her. Any other answers would have to come from Miki Saegusa herself.

As soon as the equipment arrived, he left one of his men in the waiting room in his place and went out to the van. His first task was to call his team in Yokkaichi to ask about Junior and to reassure them that everything was all right. Godzilla-sama went off to rescue a human telepath, he told them, and they were now waiting to hear about her condition from the doctors. A priority call came in, from Minister of Defense Takayuki Segawa, demanding to know what was going on in Utsunomiya. Aso now truly regretted not briefing the council earlier about the status of his project; he wouldn't have any peace until he did. Once again, he put the man off with assurances that everything was under control.

Returning to the waiting room, he sat down heavily and sighed. Still no word. He felt Godzilla's hovering presence, and also the weariness in the kaiju's mind; he'd been through a lot in the last 24 hours. Aso wished he could tell Godzilla-sama to rest, but it would be hypocritical to do so. He felt the need himself, but was soldier enough to push his exhaustion aside, much like the unhappy behemoth was doing. Eventually the doctors came out, looking concerned but not worried. The young lady had overdosed on tranquilizers, they informed him, and was suffering from a mild concussion and a broken arm. She was stable now, but would need watching for at least a few days.

"Could she be moved?" Aso asked. The sooner she was away from here, the sooner Godzilla would leave. Airlifting was possible, he learned, and he started issuing orders. A transport jet was to be brought to the airstrip, and a medical team sent to the hospital nearest the field headquarters in Yokkaichi. Yes, that hospital had been evacuated, so all the necessary support personnel were to assemble there to establish a field medical center. They must be prepared to move again, once the patient's condition had improved, to the field headquarters itself. The best place for everyone concerned would be there.

Godzilla was aware that something was up, and a tired Aso reassured him that Miki would be all right and that she would be moved back to Yokkaichi. He visualized the kaiju returning to the sea, once again avoiding any of the townships, and then to Yokkaichi, later followed by himself and Miki by air. The leviathan responded with relief and agreement and began the long trek back to the ocean, avoiding trampling any cities as requested. Once again, Aso made sure that G-Force would not harass him on his way and sent a preemptive message to the Minister of Defense to inform him that Godzilla was returning to Yokkaichi.

* * *

When Miki woke up, she found herself once again in a hospital and wondered despairingly if she'd dreamed it all. She didn't recognize these doctors, though they seemed kind enough and even pleased that she'd awakened. Her head ached, and her left arm was immobilized in a cast, but at least the heavy tranquilizer fog was gone from her mind. The doctors examined her, ran countless tests, and asked her many questions on how she felt. She asked no questions of her own, afraid of what the answers might be, but most of them were answered when Commander Aso stepped into her room. Her face lighting up with delight, she tried to push herself into a sitting position. "Commander!"

"Remain still, young woman!" he ordered promptly and continued more gently, "And welcome back. I must apologize that we never even suspected that an imposter had taken your place." He studied the pale young women, wondering why she didn't ask about her rescuer. "At least you are back, in Yokkaichi City now, and no more harm will come to you. Godzilla-sama is a powerful protector."

Surprise was followed by joy. She didn't imagine it after all! Reaching out for that familiar mind, she found... nothing. Or something, but very vague and confusing. She frowned, disappointed and puzzled. Had he already returned to the sea?

Easily reading her expression, Aso reassured, "He is deeply asleep right now, Miss Saegusa. The last few days have been very difficult for him." Difficult was an understatement. In a way, he felt that he had failed the kaiju by not having found a cure for his pain, but it was early yet, and scientific breakthroughs rarely happened on demand. Miki, he hoped, would be a great help and possibly a breakthrough in of herself.

Her first concern was for the kaiju, not herself. About to sit up, she hesitated and gave Aso a wary look before settling down, lest she be scolded again. "Very difficult for him? What has happened to him? Is he here in Yokkaichi? Is that how you know that he is asleep?" There had been many times when she desperately wished she could just look into someone's mind for information, but the Psychic Institute had firm rules against the invasion of privacy and made sure that their graduates were fully indoctrinated in this policy. Besides, he was her Commander. Patience, she told herself.

Once sure that Miki wasn't going to try to get up again, Aso drew up a chair and gave her one of his rare smiles. "I'm very sorry that you missed so much of this miracle, although it began with a disaster. Bass Island no longer exists. Uranium buried beneath the island was detonated by a volcanic eruption, and the nuclear explosion completely destroyed the island and horribly burned Godzilla-sama, and to a lesser degree, the Little One." He observed her as he told the story, seeing the shock and horror at Godzilla's injuries, the fear of the consequences of his out-of-control energy locus, and the fear for his life when he was healed but so completely helpless. The first part of this story was dark indeed, for Godzilla and for Aso.

That changed over the next few weeks... Had it only been a few weeks since Godzilla staggered out of Ise Bay? He fell silent for a moment, marveling at how quickly things had changed, but was recalled to the present by a muffled sigh from a still-worried Miki. Once again, he studied her as he related the discovery of Godzilla's telepathy, her face twisting into a mask of shame and chagrin that she, also a telepath, never even suspected. He related the nightmares that triggered the beginning of communication between them. Emotions and images were difficult and awkward, but they were an amazing start, and in many cases, they were all it took to get the message across. The darkness of those first few weeks was followed by the dawn of hope. The tensions between kaiju and human eased, and cordial, even friendly relations developed. As he spoke, he watched the play of emotions across her expressive face: the excitement, the joy, the triumph, and the fascination.

The tale took one final downwards turn before finishing, that being the baffling pain, and that was closely connected to the recovery of Miki as shown to him by Godzilla himself: her voice crying out, his recognition of her, and his determination to rescue her. The kaiju also showed him the deaths of the two humans who fled the limousine, mixed in with the images that Miki had shown Godzilla. There were no regrets. They hurt Miki, and he killed them for it. Aso didn't speak of that, just the leviathan's concern for her. "I am honored that he trusted me enough to turn to me for help," he remarked quietly. "He arrived back in Yokkaichi early yesterday morning, a few hours after you were flown here, and for most of that day, he was impatiently pacing around the hospital. I finally persuaded him to return to our field headquarters, which is only three miles from here, and he eventually lay down to rest and has been asleep since."

Unfortunately, all the instruments had been quite thoroughly soaked in seawater for many hours, so they couldn't immediately check the kaiju's condition. Junior was bored but not unhappy, so that was a good sign. No one there was feeling any pain or even discomfort, also a good omen. Despite instructions to the contrary, they were working hard at replacing the damaged equipment, risking that Godzilla might stir in his sleep and accidentally hurt someone. Thankfully, he was still except for the usual tail-twitching, and the equipment was replaced without incident. Once calibrated, the instrumentation showed that he'd resumed stable, pre-spike pain levels, a finding that was received with mixed feelings: relief that the pain had lessened and worry that it was still there.

"Officially, you are still on medical leave, Miss Saegusa, but I've already transferred you to the Yokkaichi research team as an aide to Dr. Tomioka. As soon as you've been discharged from this facility, a car will pick you up to take you to your new duty station. Quarters are rather makeshift, I'm afraid, as it is an office building and not an apartment complex, but you'll at least have your own room. This will be a long-term project, but I doubt that I will hear any complaints from you." That last was said a bit wryly. "Now it is official. Help Godzilla-sama. For a change, your teammates will be as eager to help him as you are."

Dreams do come true. All Miki's weariness was gone, and she wanted to start _now_, but... looking at a smirking Commander Aso, who obviously knew exactly what she was thinking, she decided that she would have to wait. "Have you ever been tested for telepathy, Commander?" she asked somewhat testily. Nothing to do but fidget, but at least she wasn't wasting any time, since Godzilla was still asleep.

"Yes, I have," was the surprising answer. "I scored slightly above average in receiving, but very poorly in transmitting. Not enough to warrant any further training, but it comes in useful now and then for gauging feelings." Especially now. While it had made him the key point of contact with Godzilla, it also meant that he was hit the hardest when the kaiju was upset. Miki would take that job now, though he had no intention of bowing out entirely; this was much more to him than just a duty now.

There was one last task to perform before he could return to the field headquarters, and it was likely to take some time. Wishing the young telepath a speedy recovery, he left the hospital and called for a helicopter to take him back to Tokyo. He'd put it off for too long, but it was time, finally, for him to address the UNGCC. A meeting was scheduled in three days.

In the mean time, he kept up on the reports out of Yokkaichi. Miss Saegusa was released the following day and reported to Yokkaichi headquarters after submitting a full account of her kidnapping. G-Force had to shoo away a number of news planes and helicopters, since Godzilla's presence was impossible to hide any longer. Aso was adamant that they be kept away. Godzilla-sama had been shot at too often to be comfortable around aircraft, and having people he didn't know and might dislike around him was just asking for trouble. A later message from Miki gave him the final information he needed for his report.

They were all waiting for him as he stepped into the brightly-lit conference room, direct feeds being sent to various other UN dignitaries around the world. Taking his place at the podium, he slowly looked around the room at each and every man and woman seated at the oval conference table. "Honored members of the Committee, I apologize for my lateness in delivering this report, but discoveries have been made at so rapid a pace that it would have been premature to have come forward any sooner." He fell silent for a moment, sensing the tenseness and anticipation from the people present. His sensitivity had apparently increased after so much exposure to a powerful telepath like Godzilla, and he _knew_ that they expected him to announce that he had found a way to destroy the kaiju.

With a great deal of personal satisfaction, he announced, "We have finally found a way to communicate with Godzilla-sama, and according to Miss Miki Saegusa, he has confirmed that his war with us is ended." Though not what they expected, it was something better: a sign of a brighter future both for humanity and for Godzilla.

The End


End file.
